Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.

Pfizer jettisons Esperion

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Catherine Shaffer

Nature Biotechnology 26, 724 - 725 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nbt0708-724

At the beginning of May, Pfizer spun back out Esperion Therapeutics, which it had originally purchased for $1.3 billion in March 2004. Since the acquisition, most of Esperion's promising pipeline seems to have been stuck in a state of suspended animation, while Pfizer's dream of another decade of statin hegemony slowly imploded. In the meantime, after making a mint the first time around, many of Esperion's original venture-capital investors are back for a second bite of the cherry, hoping that the company's management can fulfill the startup's early, interrupted promise.

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Coastal VC firms see investment opportunity in Midwest companies

Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

by Nathan Bomey | Ann Arbor Business Review
Thursday May 22, 2008, 8:53 AM

A Californian venture capitalist involved in a recent Ann Arbor deal expects the Midwest to draw increasing attention from coastal VC executives as deals in traditional tech hotspots become saturated with attention.

Alison de Bord, director of San Francisco-based Alta Partners, sought to debunk the traditional thinking that coastal venture capitalists aren't willing to seek out investments in historical "fly-over" states such as Michigan.

Alta Partners, which manages a $500 million fund focusing on life sciences and IT investments, recently invested in Esperion Therapeutics after Ann Arbor entrepreneur Roger Newton announced he had acquired the firm from Pfizer Inc.

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Idea to buy back Esperion pre-dated Pfizer announcement

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

by Nathan Bomey | Ann Arbor Business Review
Thursday May 08, 2008, 8:30 AM

Roger Newton still believes in his company.

The celebrated Ann Arbor entrepreneur - a renowned scientist who co-discovered the world's best selling drug, Lipitor - just bought back the biotech company he sold to Pfizer almost five years ago.

Newton raised $22.75 million from four venture capital firms to re-acquire Esperion Therapeutics, which went defunct after Pfizer announced Jan. 22, 2007 that it would close its Ann Arbor and Plymouth Township operations.

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Co-founder buys back Esperion Therapeutics from Pfizer, lines up $22.75 million in VC

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Concentrate, 5/7/2008

Pfizer may be leaving Ann Arbor but more and more of its pieces are sticking around Tree Town. The latest defection is Esperion Therapeutics, which is being bought back by its co-founder and reestablished as an Ann Arbor-based business.

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Esperion buyback goal: More drug offerings

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

By Tom Henderson
May 5, 2008

Roger Newton hopes he can make history repeat itself by reinventing Esperion Therapeutics Inc., one of the most successful start-ups in Michigan history.

A group of venture-capital partners has bet nearly $23 million that he will succeed.

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Esperion Therapeutics Completes $22.75 M Series A Financing

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Pfizer Inc Spinout of Esperion Therapeutics - Founding Team to Focus on HDL Therapies As a Private Entity
May 01, 2008

ANN ARBOR, Mich. & NEW YORK-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company formed to focus on the discovery and development of compounds to treat cardiovascular and metabolic disease, today announced that it has been launched as a privately held, independent enterprise.

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The Luckiest Guy In The Drug Business

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Matthew Herper, 05.01.08, 3:22 PM ET

How weird have things gotten in the drug industry? Ask Roger Newton, who led the development of Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's biggest drug. Then, 10 years ago, he left to found a biotech and sold it to Pfizer for more than a billion dollars. And now he's spinning the same biotech back out as a start-up backed with $22.75 million in venture capital to support its work to develop new heart disease drugs that work by boosting the good cholesterol, HDL.

Stranger still, the deal, almost a year in the making, seems to make sense for all involved, including Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ) itself.

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